I have wanted to take the boys for the SkyTrex Adventure ever since I heard about it but I wasn’t sure whether they would be up for it so I have been waiting for G1 to express more interest before making the suggestion.
When we were in Sea World, I went on the SkyTrail Rope Course. G1 wanted to try it as well, but he wasn’t tall enough to meet the minimum height requirement.
Last year, we paid a visit to FRIM to take a stroll along the canopy walk. The boys had such a wonderful time that they wanted to go again. Then earlier this week, we went to the Young Explorers Adventure Maze. G1 had such a time on the flying fox that I figured he was finally ready to take on a bigger adventure. I showed him some pictures of SkyTrek and asked him if he would like to try it and he said “yes”.
SkyTrex Adventure
There are three adventure levels:
- Little Adventure – minimum height 110 cm
- Big Thrill – minimum height 140 cm
- Extreme Challenge – minimum height 140 cm
Check out the photos and videos from their website.
There is no minimum age requirement as long as your child meets the height requirements. However, if your child is below 8 years old for the Little Adventure or 13 years old for the Big Thrill and Extreme Challenge, there must be a climbing adult accompanying your child. For the Big Thrill and Extreme Challenge, it must be one climbing adult to one child under 13 years old. For the Little Adventure, there must be at least one climbing adult to every two children under 8 years old. I should add that if your child is very young (like G2 who is under 5) you really need to be one to one because you are supposed to go ahead of your child so you can assist them if they get stuck halfway. If your child is ahead of you, you can’t get past him to help him if he gets stuck. That said, the Little Adventure is pretty well attended by staff. They patrol the ground and there are some on the platforms in between challenges so they can assist whenever anyone gets stuck.
Before starting, everyone is fitted with a harness (children get full-body harnesses) that has two “clickers” and a “pulley”. There is a brief safety introduction before beginning where the instructor will go through the safety rules and teach everyone how to operate the clickers and the pulley. After that, everyone goes through a trial run while the instructor observes. Thereafter, you have 2 hours to go through the entire course as many times as you can.
The main problem with younger children, like G2, is that they may not have the manual dexterity to handle the clickers and the pulley before it’s quite fiddly. It helps to have a second adult behind to help the younger child operate the clickers and the pulley from the front adult has moved to the next platform.
The clickers secure the climber to a safety rope that will catch you if you fall. There are two clickers so that when you are transferring from one safety rope to another, you will always been attached at one point. The clickers are designed so that only one clicker can be open at any one time. This ensures that you will never be off your safety rope while you are on the rope course.
The pulley is only required when you are on the flying fox challenges. If your child is not tall enough, he will struggle to attach and remove the pulley. Even when G2 was standing on the step, he was not tall enough to remove the pulley unless someone lifts him up. G1 also needed help removing the pulley.
G1 was actually quite game to take on the Big Thrill until he found out that he wasn’t tall enough so we all went on the Little Adventure.
There are lots of different challenges to take on, such as the flying fox, “dragon bones”, “rabbit flip-flop”, and others. They range from a height of 3m to 5m above the ground.
G2, strangely, was terrified of the challenges that required him to walk across, but he loved the flying fox challenges!
Fees
SkyTrex costs:
- Little Adventure – RM35
- Big Thrill – RM45
- Extreme Challenge – RM55
You need to book online to secure a place before the day. Please don’t rock up on the day hoping to get a spot because you’ll be in for a disappointment.
Entry to Taman Botani Negara:
SkyTrex is located within Taman Botani Negara so you will need to pay the entry fees for this to get in:
- Parking – RM3
- Park Entry:
- Adults – RM3
- Children – RM1
There is actually quite a lot to do at Taman Botani Negara so it’s probably worth making a day trip of it or going back again another day.
How Long Does it Take?
Once you enter Taman Botani Negara, you will have to wait for a bus to take you to SkyTrex (it’s a 3km hike, otherwise). We were waiting up to 20 minutes for the bus to get going. Likewise, on the return trip, we missed the bus so we had to wait for the next bus to get back. All in all, from the time we got there, it took us 3 1/2 hours before we got back to our car again.
- Little Adventure – 2 hours
- Big Thrill – 2-3 hours
- Extreme Challenge – 2-3hours
Getting There
SkyTrex is located within Taman Botani Negara in Shah Alam. This is the map from Google which isn’t exactly accurate. What you need to do is find your way to Jalan Liku 8/1 (use your GPS or Waze). Once you get to Jalan Liku 8/1, drive past the block of shops and a water tower on your left to the end of the road where there is a T-junction. Turn right at the T-junction and follow the road through the arch and it will take you to Taman Botani. You need to pay RM3 for your car to enter the parking lot.
